Heartbeats of Hope to host rabies clinics

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Heartbeats of Hope to host rabies clinics FROM STAFF REPORTS

It has been nearly eight years since Vidor teen Katie Pittman lost her life after a more than two year battle with leukemia. During her lengthy illness, which included chemotherapy, radiation, and more than four months in an isolation room after a bone marrow transplant, Katie's concern was great for the other young cancer patients at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

She began collecting money from friends and family to provide huge gift baskets for children in isolation during the Christmas season of 1998. After visiting the hospital to deliver the gifts Katie told her mother, "This is the best thing I have ever done. I want to do this every Christmas for the rest of my life."

Unfortunately, the pretty green-eyed blonde honor student would not live to see another holiday season. Her family and friends took up the torch in her absence, creating a non-profit organization they named Heartbeats of Hope. "Hope" was the name Katie's bone marrow donor had given her in the year after transplant, when she was not allowed information about Katie.

Heatbeats of Hope's annual rabies clinic fund-raiser will be from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 12 at Capitol One on Main Street in Vidor. Dogs and cats at least three months of age will be vaccinated at a cost of $7 per shot. Cold drinks will be sold, and for those not having animals to vaccinate, drop-off donations in support of the work of Heartbeats of Hope will be accepted.

Since 1999, the Vidor-based group has provided hundreds of gift baskets to young cancer patients at Texas Children's, with a youth and adult team that visit not only at Christmas, but also at Easter and in the fall. Southeast Texas families whose children have cancer have received funds for gasoline and parking as they visit the hospital for treatment, groceries, rent, and even reliable vehicles.

Director Sally Kirkpatrick, Katie's mother, says the accomplishments of the organization and the tremendous support of the community is overwhelming.

"I thought we would deliver baskets at Christmas every year in Katie's memory and that would be it," she said.